Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-04-02

VI the Legislative Commit, &C.. a, g..
Affairs,

vi hennebec county hold a.
sus'a' some three weeks ago. a comr,;,.aa
was appointed to inquire into the name.
'nent OF the county affairs. Tue.da, NJ.
10th, the committee made tho foI,o.:N
port: "i"s re-
oul committee appointed to inou;ro int,
"e management of the county atfa;r. ~
ave 10 report. Taken as a whole ,ho s
tha OF the county have been rednced IL
~. pas zen years. In 1876 the countv 20
vas @fo,ooo; this has been reduced ve.r h.,
yeara I'll the tax authorized, for the two
beer s nsaine mas, by vote of the delegation.
&c zen M nxeo at 900 year, a reduct;on &c
9f'ooo from last year. While ,h;. rod',o.: VI
gratifying to the taxpayers. we hsI;aua
;n,o with proper and needed reforms the t.v
~ ioos should not exceed 1926, 900 The AL.
in 1879. "'n "S nxed by law
Tue expenses of the Supreme and Suner;o-
courts are dependent upon the amount rs II,
lga.ion. Established in 1878, we And tbat ,ha
superior Court has decreased the COW, Wv
pehses and been of great financial beneAt -
.ne county and the people. The items COW.
ereu ny oianks, books, printing, fuel. &c
amounting TO ~ 200, are furnished under the
law OF 1883, which requires them to be
"~arueu TO the lowest bidder The item
Spase municipal and Trial Justices
S Soaf'S 90 30 3o We find to be UNREASONABLE
nigh. Inc fees were taxed and allowed nv
law, but We submit that many of rho go. ~
were unnece ssary. A' "i'es''
The Oakland. Winthrop and Relorado
courts cost the county $500 46, and returned
.he county S320.66. Hallowell cost the conn.
INCLUDING board of prisonersl S8Os 81
anu returned S442.22, besides Sll9 covered
iuto the treasury under the law of 1895 The
C"eisea court cost the county So .229. 90. in.
ciudlng board, and returned $3.50. We And
tnat nearly all these cases were for violat;ons
OF the liquor law in the territory about rho
soldiers Home In many of the conviction.
uhaoie to pay the fines the offenders have
served Jail sentences.
Inc expenses of enforcing the law apainst
,'quor dealers selling in the woods and in such
nauu,s az at chelsea are necessarily great,
out oy this outlay the rum traffic has greatly
decreased, old offenders have been driven on
OF business, many have been imprisoned. and
several suits against forfeited bail are now
pendlng Gardiner has cost the county 49,
100 o.. including board, and has returned
Sl'o.oo, besides $279 so covered into the
treasury or this sum S2,47l GA is charge
aoie TO Drunkenness, due largely to the law
requiring "drunks" to be imprisoned. After
careful inquiry we find no evidence to war.
rant criticism of this court or its officers.
The expense seems to have been unavoidable.
Under the new law making the penalty for
drunkenness fine, this bill should be re-
| duced the coming year. Pittston has cost the
county S2694.09 and returned $50 We believe
| this to be wrong. OF this amount 81 48I "a
Is chargeable to drunkenness, We suggest
this remedy, that the town of West Pittston
| establish a sVstpm of Maid Dnl;oa, cno a..
would be sufficient Under the '.Kenneb bee
law" the burden of his salary would be borne
| equltably by the town and county. The
police court of Gardiner should include West
| flttston In Its jurisdiction. As it is now too
ate to perfect such change, we suggest it
Tor consideration two years hence. This leak
should be and can be stopped by the people
OF West Plttston by action of the town,
Augusta has cost, including board, So 1913 l6,
and has returned, including 1854 covered into
the treasury, 50 4l9,93. The board of Au-
gusta prisoners we find to be in all S265 So,
and the entire amount chargeable for drunk
enness 1927 10. Waterville has cost, includ-
ing board, S. ,O74 IS, and has returned ST.
552 So in fines. We find that the liquor law
has been more vigorously enforced in Water
vile than in any other place in the county.
| This enforcement cost So, 25O 81.
| Demanded by public sentiment, Deputy
Sheriff Hill has done only what the people
asked of him. Deducting the fines re eived
the net expense has been but S697.35 The
law obliges officers to do precisely as Mr..
Hill has done. As to this portion of Water
ville's expense we have no criticism to make.
To stimulate enforcement, the 'Kennebec
law provides that all judges and officers,
whether salaried or not, shall be entitled per-
sonsllv to their fees in all liquor cases where
| oil nd
by strict enforcement of the liquor law. the
costs in Waterville have been $3.50 81, the
revenue So, 552.0l leaving but S697 IS for
taxpayers to meet. 1t is apparent that about
80 per cent. of the fees drawn by Deputy
Sheriff Hill and Judge Stewart have in fact
been paid by the liquor dealers ia Waterville.
A difficult law to enforce, the people must
pay the bills cheerfully if they find officers
willing to do such work, even if it does not
produce such successful financial results as
in this case.
Drunkenness and vagrancy Cor tramps) in
Waterville have cost respectively Sl,60S.65
and S243.2O or in all 81 ,95l.S5 being less
than Pittston or Gardiner. This total in
cludes for prosecution, SSO1 Ga. commitment
to jail, 1922 As, board in Jail, S7777G We
find the same evil existing here as in Pitts
ton. Waterville, with her wealth and popu-
latiou, should not compel the county to bear
the burden of her day police. This can be
remedied only by action of the town We
submit, Watervile should establish system
of paid police to do all criminal work not
done by the Deputy Sheriff. 1t would be
more Just to the county, and in the end cheap
er for the town. At present there is an in
ducement for officers, paid by fees alone, to
make unnecessary arrests of tramps, an evil
too prevalent in this and other towns in the
county. Where possible, no criminal officer
should be dependent for his pay upon the
number of arrests he can make.
The public criticisms of Judge Stewart are
not warranted by the facts. He has no IN
ducement to swell the prosecutions against
"drunks" or tramps, as all his fees IN such
cases are drawn by the town. These defects
ia the police system of Watervlle could be
rsmedied more easily if Waterville were a
city-a change of government more economi
cal for the citizens of Waterville, and lndi'
rectly for the county. With the above change
in the police system of Waterville and the
new law relating to "drunks," the expense
incident to drunkenness and vagrancy al
Waterville ought to be reduced materially.
The Jail expense we tind to be unnecessa-
rily and unreasonably large 1t has grow
from 81 .36l.9l exclusive of fuel, lights and
repairs) in 1878, to SS,7S7.39 tn 1886. Al
though a part of the increase is due to the
law recurring drunks to be imprisoned gre